Incorporating Ru into TiO2 to Enhance Hydrogen Generation in Visible Light
Description
The significant role that fossil fuels have played in energy utilization cannot be underestimated. However, owing to the non-renewable and CO2 emission associated to its usage has paved a way for a search for a more renewable and environmentally unfriendly energy sources of which hydrogen energy identified as a potential target. A highly porous TiO2-RuO2 heterogenous solvothermally engineered photocatalyst revealed how varying synthesis conditions can contribute to the modification of TiO2 towards effective photocatalytic water splitting in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum. Characterization techniques such as XRD, SEM, TEM, UV-Vis DRS, and electrochemical analysis revealed that TiO2-RuO2-20 exhibited reduced band gap, improved light absorption capability, lower electron-hole recombination rate, lower solution resistance which collectively contributed to effective photocatalytic activity. In addition, a high surface area and molg-1h-1 of hydrogen gas mesoporous nature contributed to 1794.8 molg-1h-1) and the commercially Compared to the pristine RuO2 (21.9 molg-1h-1), the TiO2-RuO2-20 sample produced available TiO2 (246.4 yield that is almost 81 times and 7 times respectively. This therefore proves the effectiveness of the solvothermal method and the ruthenium dioxide in modulating the photocatalytic properties of TiO2 photocatalyst for photocatalytic water splitting in visible light.